History of Melbourne

The history of Melbourne details the city's growth from a fledging settlement into a modern commercial and financial centre as Australia's second largest city.

The area around Port Phillip and the Yarra valley, on which the city of Melbourne now stands, was the home of the Kulin people, an alliance of several language groups of Indigenous Australians, whose ancestors had lived in the area for an estimated 31,000 to 40,000 years. At the time of European settlement the population of indigenous inhabitants was estimated to be under 20,000, who were hunter-gatherers from three tribes: the Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung and Wathaurong.

The area was an important meeting place for the clans of the Kulin, as well as a vital source of food and water. The Kulin lived by fishing, hunting and gathering, and made a good living from the rich food sources of Port Phillip and the surrounding grasslands.

Many of the Aboriginal people who live in Melbourne today are descended from aboriginal groups from other parts of Victoria and Australia. However, there are still people who identify as Wurundjeri and Boon warung descendants of the original people who occupied the area of Melbourne prior to European settlement. While there are few overt signs of the Aboriginal past in the Melbourne area, there are a wealth of sites of cultural and spiritual significance.

In 1797 George Bass, in an open whaleboat with a crew of six, was the first European to enter what came to be called Bass Strait, the passage between the Australian mainland and Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). He sailed westwards along what is now the coast of the Gippsland region of Victoria, as far west as Western Port. In 1802, John Murray in the Lady Nelson entered Port Phillip, and he was followed shortly after by Matthew Flinders.

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